Indefinite Hunt
by Shion A. Lee
Summary: When an airship crashes over the sea a city hunter must try to survive without equipment or supplies. No cities, villages, shops, or base camps. However he meets another survivor who may have the know-how he needs, can they survive the eternal hunt?
1. Chapter 1

Nero woke up to a full moon and the sound of jaggis howling in the distance. Sitting up he gazed about his surroundings. How long had he been here? Hours? Days? All he knew was his mouth tasted like he had been chewing on whetstones and a sharp pain resonated through his body. He scratched his head and pulled back in surprise when he felt something warm and sticky. Hours. He searched his fuzzy thoughts to try and figure out the current situation. Hadn't he been eating breakfast at a cantina just this morning? Hadn't he been on an airship? He played over in his mind the sudden cries that had arose from the deck, the great beast flying in out of nowhere, his best friend reaching for him before everything went up in red...

Around him he could see dark shapes dully reflecting moonlight; pieces of the ship, but obviously not all of them, where could the rest be? They had been flying over the ocean, how did he end up on land? The more he thought the more he felt the pain that had been steadily increasing in his head. His vision was blurring and his mouth screamed for water. He found a shred of cloth next to him and wearily tied it around his head, flopped back onto the ground, and let exhaustion take over.

When he woke the next morning the sun was well into the sky shining mild spring heat. He tore the blood encrusted cloth off his head and gingerly poked around to see what sort of damage he had taken. His fingers ran over a long gash from the right side of his forehead to right above his ear. He was lucky. Any lower and he would be missing an eye. Other than that a series of bruises and scratches ran over the visible parts of his body. He sighed, his armor, his switch-ax, everything had been stored on the airship. His only protection now was his leather pants, cotton shirt, and the knife he kept in his belt.

His top priority was water. There had to be some somewhere, around him was grass and bushes dispersed in the rocks and debris from the ship, He looked to the distance and found he could see trees. Wearily he picked himself up and began heading toward the inviting shade. A ways inward he found what he was looking for. A stream so small it was barely noticeable ran its course through the cool forest. He dunked his hands in and drank slowly. The water smelled like pelagicite, but it felt sweet running down his throat. He washed the blood off his head and was about to start searching for food when he heard the trees behind him rustling. His thoughts started rushing. If it was a jaggi he could kill it easy, maybe even get some meat off it. If it was an aptonoth he would have food for a good few days, but he wasn't sure just a knife could cut through its tough skin and kill it. If it was a jaggia... or worse... well, he would have to make a run for it. But shock and relief flowed through him as not a monster emerged, but a young woman. She wore what looked like guild uniform, but it was tattered and stained with dirt and blood. Her eyebrows cocked in surprise when she saw him, then she gave him a lopsided grin, "Good god hunter, you look like death!"

He gave her a weary smile, "I could say the same to you."

"I'm Del." she offered as she began rummaging through the bushes. "Some day yesterday, huh hunter?"

"Yeah." He replied bitterly, "I'm Nero."

Nero looked on questioningly watching Del from behind as she mashed something together.

She held out her hand to him "Put this on your forehead, you'll feel a million times better."

He looked at the unsavory mix of mashed mushroom and leaves.

"You're serious?" Nero asked staring at the vile looking mush.

"Dead serious, hunters from the country do this all the time. Just be happy I didn't chew it, though that works better." Del insisted.

He warily took the mixture and pressed it against his head, immediately he felt the pain start subsiding.

"Thanks." He sighed "But if I get sick..."

She gave a quick laugh, "Don't worry. Working for the guild I picked up lots of cool tricks from rural hunters. I had just gotten promoted when, well... you know."

Nero saw the sadness that fell upon her face. Hadn't she been alone on the ship? Somehow he couldn't ask just then. He hadn't been alone, but he couldn't think about that right now, he had to focus on living and grief would just distract him.

"So! I'll take care of health and cooking, and you can bring home the bacon... Literally! I'd give anything for some aptonoth steak but I have no knife. So I figure my knowledge, plus your brawn, would make a great team!" Del started again cheerily, "Whaddya say hunter?" She offered her hand.

"Nero." He corrected.

"OK. Nero."

As he shook her hand a million doubts and questions flew through his head, but for the time he put them off, being with a partner was infinitely better than having to go it alone.


	2. Chapter 2

The remainder of the day passed quickly for Nero and Del. They had decided to start heading downstream in the morning but first they had to manage to get some food. Nero headed upstream to try and find kelbi, who usually congregated in areas with more water. Meanwhile, Del began scavenging for any edible plants she might find. As she worked she thought back to the small colony she had lived in before she had gotten promoted. It was a rough collection of hunters mostly, they were strong, hard, and lived off the land. Finally they scraped up some recognition from the guild and Del, the newest recruit, drew the short straw and was assigned to the dumpy town that no one else wanted. But over time she became a younger sister to the hunters in the colony. They were eager to show the tricks they'd known for years to new ears. She gave a small sigh. What she wouldn't give to be back there now. The hunter was a lucky find, she concluded, as her mind inevitably began drifting back to the food that the people in her colony would cook up. She was diving into a bowl of steamed snake salmon and parnish when her hand ran over something cool in the dirt. She looked down and saw a bright red stone, very rough and coarse to the touch.

"Score!" she said to no one in particular, "This is perfect! Now all I need is for Nero to come back with some kelbis and we have dinner!"

Nero was thoroughly enjoying hunting again. He was back in his element using all the tracking tricks he had learned through the years, so he hadn't gone further than a mile upstream when he found the keblis. They were obviously unaccustomed to people and within minutes he was hauling four back down to where Del was. Then suddenly the air around him changed. A musky smell filled the air and the forest fell hush. His senses perked up and he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. His natural instinct was to freeze in place but he continued moving cautiously. He didn't know where he was, or what kind of monsters might be here, but the feeling he had was vaguely familiar. The feeling of being prey. Then in a flash the great jaggi jumped out from seemingly nowhere. Nero gasped as he felt its claws against his unprotected back. He rolled out of the way and reached for his knife, when he noticed it wasn't after him, but the kelbi he was carrying. It was limping and long rips covered its body. It sniffed around, looked at him, and howled loudly. Nero ducked down cautiously, he knew he would have to act fast, it was all or nothing. In one swift movement grabbed one of the kelbi by the horns and sliced at the jaggi with his free hand, catching it against its legs. Then made a run for it, heading downstream again. With another loud cry the great jaggi headed after him through the forest. Normally Nero could have outrun a wounded one, but two days without food and the weight of a kelbi on his shoulders was taking its toll and he stumbled through the forest clumsily. The great jaggi was gaining, and he was considering tossing the kelbi, when a rock hummed past Nero and caught it smack on the head. The great jaggi reeled dizzily, shocked from the sudden impact, then turned around and began heading back to easier prey.

Nero turned around to see Del grinning proudly with a bundle of sticks in one hand.

"Glad to see you made it back alive hunter! Heard that thing yodeling and figured you might need some help," she smiled cheekily.

"Yeah, thanks." Nero replied as he slid the kelbi off his shoulders onto the ground.

He noticed Del's slightly disappointed face.

"Sorry, there were no aptonoths around and the great jaggi made off with the rest of the kelbi I got." He sighed.

"No worries! I was just thinking we can use those horns for carrying water if you let me borrow your knife and carve them. Oh! And I found this!" Del tossed him the stone she had found earlier.

Nero's face brightened, "A flintstone! This makes our lives a hundred times easier!"

Twilight was beginning to descend on the land as Nero and Del enjoyed fire roasted kelbi. Nero sighed happily as grease ran down his mouth from the gamey meat.

"Ew! That's so gross! You're worse than the boys back home home!" Del mocked teasingly.

"Aw c'mon, like table manners really matter when your... when your... here...?" Nero looked around and then up, watching the embers from the fire disappearing in the purple stained sky, "I've been thinking Del, where do you think here is? It can't possibly be part of the mainland. We were out in the middle of the ocean when the airship crashed."

Del licked grease from her fingers, "I've been wondering about it too. Most islands this big are mapped, especially ones that are in between major ports. If this was here before we would definitely know about it beforehand right? But according to the airship's itinerary we weren't going to be flying over any major islands and there were no heavy winds or storms to throw us off course."

"How could anyone miss an island this big? I haven't seen a coastline since we've been here, usually the guild would be all over exploiting a place like this." Nero found himself growing frustrated as no logical explanation offered itself.

"Unless there was a reason they wanted to hide it..." Del breathed, barely audible.

Nero's eyebrows flew up, "You think...?" For reasons he couldn't explain his mind jumped back to the great jaggi that had been chasing him, the rips along its body, what had made those? But, it wasn't rare for larger monsters to attack great jaggis, he reasoned with himself.

"No. I don't think so." Del interrupted his thoughts, "I mean we have ways of fighting every monster in existence, if our hunters and their weapons can't do it the airships can. What would be here that would make the world pretend an entire island didn't exist?"

Nero sighed, flopping back and staring up at the stars that were beginning to appear, "I don't know..." he groaned, "for now lets focus on surviving, who knows how long we will be here. The rest of our lives?"

Del pressed her knees to her chest and curled her arms around her legs, resting her head on them.

"I guess so..." she sadly admitted, "I'm just so glad I'm not alone." She looked at Nero and gave him a pained smile, "If it means anything, hunter, I'm grateful you're here."

Nero turned his head so he could see her, looking at the moonlight reflecting off her long auburn hair. He realized since this morning he had never really looked at her. She looked young, a few years younger than him at least. Was she still in her teens? He couldn't tell. She was so small too, she couldn't be more than five foot two, yet she had already helped him so much. He ran his fingers along the already healing cut that ran along his forehead, "I'm grateful you're here too."

Nero wasn't sure how long he slept, but when he woke up it was still dark. The moon was high in the sky and as full as it had been the first night he woke up on the island. He added more sticks to the fire and poked at it, turning the dying embers into a crackling flames again. He looked at the silhouette of Del sleeping on the other side and heard the reassuring sound of her breath as she slept. Then he felt a chill run up him. Something seemed wrong, what was it? He stared hard at her. Then he noticed, her body was too still, and what he thought was breathing now sounded more like sucking. He heard a faint groan and in an instant had his knife out. Gigi! Its soft pale body seemed to glow in the moonlight, it had attached itself to her neck. He hacked at it with his hunting knife and finally it released her. It turned to him and hissed, its mouth opening wide to reveal circular rows of small sharp teeth. Then it lurched, gave a small cry, and fell limp. Nero gave its body an unforgiving kick into the bushes and rushed to Del. Her breathing was shallow and sparse, and in the moonlight she looked ghostly pale. On her neck was a large, circular, swollen mark where the gigi had been attached. His thoughts rushed, what had she used on him earlier? The mushrooms and leaves right? But he couldn't identify them in daylight let alone in the middle of the night. Unsure what else to do, he tore the bottom of one of his cotton sleeves off, soaking it in the water Del had stored in the kelbi horns. He wrapped it loosely around her neck. Would that be OK? He felt mad at himself for letting the fire burn so low. Gigis sucked strength, so he was pretty sure that as long as rested she would recover, but the chances of them moving in the morning now looked slim.

A/N: Thank you if you have read this far! I'm sorry if the first chapter was slow and short, hopefully from here on out it will be nonstop action! Just kidding, I'm hoping for a balanced story here with a combination of action and mystery. Any advice or suggestions you have would be helpful! Thank you!


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